Cal Poly Learning Commons - Part 3 of 3

Do I think this renovation is valuable / useful?

The fact that so many students were directly involved in the 2005 Cal Poly Learning Commons design project will give them “buy-in” and will also spread word-of-mouth among their friends. Other students may think more favorably about the project because “the outcome is a work of students and not only by some ‘experts’” (Lundkvist, Sundlof, Tanskanen, & Tiburzi, 2005, p. 8).

Students and faculty at Cal Poly have had nearly 3 years to use the current Learning Commons with its older furnishings. Sprucing it up with new paint and carpet will make it more inviting to them. The addition of new group study rooms, and especially the café, will likely bring in new students and faculty who had not previously used the space. Together, the 2005 and 2008 renovations show that the library continues to be a relevant entity that seeks to update its facilities and services to adapt to the changing needs of the university.

I feel that the Learning Commons Team has done a great job with their web site, using language that is appealing to students. Take this short paragraph as a example:
“Cross-Disciplinary Social Interactions? Yes!
By hanging out at the Learning Commons you get things done, share knowledge and learn something new. Bring your books, bring your projects and bring your teammates. Your brainstorming session could spark the world's greatest idea for a senior project, a new business or a new way of thinking” (Learning Commons Team, n.d.).

The posters (image below: Kennedy Library, 2008a) which advertise the renovation are another example of how they have tried to reach out to the students.


According to the director of the Strategic Learning Center at the Chicago Metropolitan Library System, “creating services that add value for the customer takes precedence over all other drivers in determining organizational success in the twenty-first century” (Deiss, 2004, p.17). I believe that the renovations at the Robert E. Kennedy library add significant value for the customers, and their outreach seeks to show students that value.

As a staff member of an “Information Commons” who has an interest in seeing in morph into more of a “Learning Commons,” I wish I could visit Cal Poly’s newly renovated Learning Commons after it re-opens this fall.


Acknowledgement

I would like to thank the staff of Kennedy Library for making so much information about their Learning Commons and renovations freely available on the Internet. It made this class project an interesting treasure hunt for me, with many gems found, not the least of which are the Flickr image sets by Kennedy Library and by Marya Figueroa. If I have misinterpreted or misrepresented any of the information, I offer my sincere apologies.




Bibliography

Deis, K.J. (2004). Innovation and strategy: Risk and choice in shaping user-centered libraries. Library Trends, 53(1), 17-32.

Figueroa, M. (2008). Poly [set of images]. Retrieved August 2, 2008 from the Flickr web site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/emdot/sets/72157600454052855/.

Kennedy Library. (2008). 2nd floor renovation Summer 08 [set of images]. Retrieved August 2, 2008 from the Flickr web site: http://flickr.com/photos/kennedylibrary/sets/72157606243857781/.

Kennedy Library (2008). Renovation poster. Retrieved August 2, 2008 from the Flickr web site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kennedylibrary/2679778361/sizes/l/in/set-72157606242990643/.

Learning Commons Team. (n.d.) Services for Students. Retrieved from the Learning Commons web site: http://learningcommons.lib.calpoly.edu/services/students.html.

Lundkvist, P., Sundlof, R., Tanskanen, S., & Tiburzi,M. (2005). Strategic design of a learning commons at Lulea University of Technology. Lulea, Sweden: Lulea University of Technology. Retrieved from the Lulea University of Technology web site: http://epubl.ltu.se/1402-1536/2005/19/LTU-TR-0519-SE.pdf.